New Data: Animal vs. Human Antibiotic Use Remains Lopsided

Tragically, our nation’s response to COVID-19 shows what happens when public health isn’t protected, science and scientists are not trusted, and the nation’s preparedness is not prioritized.

For decades, U.S. policymakers have been aware of the rising threat from infections caused by antibiotic resistant bacteria (aka superbugs). Superbugs already infect more than 2.8 million people each year in the United States, contributing to between 35,000 and 162,000 deaths.

And yet the same policymakers continue to fail to take meaningful action to protect the public (as noted in NRDC’s blog, To Protect the Future, Protect Antibiotics). In the absence of such action, the rates of illness and death could continue to rise, eventually generating economic impacts that on a global scale might look similar to what we now are seeing with COVID-19.